The US president has acknowledged that allowing Ukraine to conduct strikes deep into Russia would be an escalation<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky have begun talks at the White House. The meeting is taking place after Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, in which the two leaders agreed to have a summit meeting in Budapest, Hungary.
\nThe Ukrainian leader arrived in Washington on Friday at the head of a large delegation. After welcoming Zelensky, Trump told reporters that his call with Putin will be high on the agenda: \u201cWe had a big call yesterday, as you know, with President Putin, and we\u2019ll be talking about it.\u201d
\nTrump added that the two will discuss providing Ukraine with new weapons, while acknowledging that this could escalate the conflict.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to be talking about that\u2026 It\u2019s an escalation, but we\u2019ll be talking about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Tomahawks, Ukraine peace, and next in-person summit: Key takeaways from new Putin-Trump phone call<\/p>\n
Zelensky earlier asked Trump to supply Kiev with Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of striking targets up to 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) away, meaning they could potentially reach Moscow and far beyond.
\nRussia earlier warned that supplying Tomahawks would \u201cnot change the situation on the battlefield,\u201d but would \u201cseverely undermine the prospects of a peaceful settlement\u201d and harm US-Russia relations.
\nPivoting to a potential dialogue to end the conflict, Trump said there is a lot of \u201cbad blood\u201d between Putin and Zelensky, and this is holding up a settlement. He added that the Budapest summit would most likely be a \u201cdouble meeting,\u201d with Zelensky being in touch.
\n\u201c[Putin] wants to get it [conflict] ended. President Zelensky wants it ended. Now we have to get it done,\u201d Trump said.
\nZelensky accused the Russian president of not wanting a ceasefire, adding that his goal in the negotiations with Trump is \u201cto get what we need to push Putin\u201d to negotiate. According to Zelensky, Ukraine is also seeking robust security guarantees. \u201cNATO is the best, but weapon[s] [are] very important.\u201d
\nRussia has denounced the Western weapons shipments to Ukraine, warning that they only prolong the conflict. It is also strongly opposed to Kiev\u2019s bid to join NATO, describing it as one of the key reasons for the conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US president has acknowledged that allowing Ukraine to conduct strikes deep into Russia would be an escalation US President Donald Trump and Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky have begun talks at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t